COUNSELING MODALITIES: SCHOOL COUNSELOR

COUNSELING MODALITIES: SCHOOL COUNSELOR

Who is School counsellor?

A school counselor is the one who identifies a child’s academic, social, personal challenge and help the child to overcome them.

School counselor plays a significant role in an educational system in many countries. He/she focuses on an individual’s growth in all dimensions. He/she deals with students in group or individually.

Functioning of School Counselor

School Counselor is a mediator between child and other stakeholders including parents, educators, special educator, activity teachers, principal etc. He/She uses different assessment methods such as case history of the child, interviews, questionnaires, academic record, feedback from present and past teachers to collect the data regarding the child and his/her challenge.

School Counselor use few assessment tools to identify student’s interest and aptitude according to his/her personality.

School Counselor interacts with the student’s class teacher and other subject teachers on regular basis.

School Counselor sometimes involve class counseling sessions when he/she wants to interact with the whole class or want to give relatable information to motivate them.

School Counselor can identify the problem on focusing on symptoms but cannot diagnose it. He/She can recommend specialists for further interventions if required.

 Objectives of School Counseling

School counselors are qualified to address the scholastic, occupational and communal developmental essentials of all students. School Counselor also work with students with special needs, who faces academic challenges in one or few areas due to their learning disabilities.

School Counselor organizes several workshops on career counseling for senior secondary students and their parents.

School Counselor talks about several sensitive issues to make the students aware and sensitive for few issues like rape, menstrual cycle, physical abuse, drug abuse, mental health etc.

School Counselors encourage the students to well acquired with relevant information before entering into professional industry.

Plan of action 

School counselors implements various techniques to help the students to take control of their problems. The techniques are role playing, individual and group counseling, class counseling, virtual counseling, family counseling, motivational interviewing , anger management, mindfulness etc.G

GROUP COUNSELING

School counselors sometimes use this technique when there is a common issue or challenge emerging from the whole group.

Group counseling helps to share and receive support from peer group as well as from counselor.

Group counseling helps to establish trust towards each other.

Group counseling works on a particular challenge.

Group counseling session has been closed once the challenge has been overcome by all participants.

SOLUTION FOCUSSED BRIEF COUNSELLING

School counselors have a short time to deal with so many challenges of students. Hence they implement this technique to help students identify their problems and get it solved by finding the most appropriate solution . Here, the school counselor together with the challenging students creates a systematic plan to accomplish a particular goal.

VIRTUAL COUNSELLING

Due to the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, our school educational system has become completely virtual. With the use of technology, a school counselor has been taking sessions through video conferencing, chats, texts etc by ensuring more safety of the student and his information.

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

A school counselor helps the students to listen each other and resolve their conflicts.

A school counselor works together with the students to find out the solution so that they can resolve their conflicts.

Positive peer pressure needs to be emphasized.C

CRISIS COUNSELING

• A school counselor helps students during the time of any traumatic event happened to them for example death of close one, natural disaster etc.
• A school counselor may refer the student to outside sources in case of need. Bottom of Form

ADVANTAGE OF SCHOOL COUNSELOR

• Fosters Advocacy for Students –School counselors deal with students of different needs. They help them to express themselves in front of parents, peer, teachers and administrators.
• Supports Parents-Counselor supports parents and discusses various type of issues regarding their child. A school counselor act as a mediator between teachers and parents and other school staff to focus on the development of the child .
• A school counselor provides guidance and different way of handling the challenges  of child with ease to the parent.
• Supports Teachers-Teachers may refer the school counselor for challenging student of their class.
• A School Counselor help teachers to identify unique needs of students and plan the teaching-learning methods as per their needs.
• A School Counselor also interact with the families of students on behalf of teachers.
• A School Counselor delivers class counseling sessions to focus on class management in a better manner.
• Supports Administration

A School Counselor guides students in majority which helps in achieving school’s aims and mission.

• Helps the Community

A  School Counselor prepares young adolescents to become successful adults through career planning, motivational interviewing, personality development and contribute to the community.

ELIGIBILITY TO BECOME A SCHOOL COUNSELOR

A school counselor should have master’s degree in the related field. He/She should have the knowledge of child development, learning, motivation, career planning etc. A school counselor is the one who can provide professional assistance to the students and their parents.

In India, as per CBSE guidelines it has become mandatory to have one school counselor in a particular school.

A school counselor must have a Master’s degree in psychology and a Post graduate diploma in guidance and counseling.

Ramifications  of Quality Counseling

A school counselor can benefit the whole school and even the community by providing assistance according to the needs. A quality counseling motivates the students to know the reality surrounding them and come out of imaginative world whenever needed.

A school counselor conducts counseling sessions individually or in group as per the requirement to closely monitor the child’s challenge.

Quality counseling helps to establish rapport with the students.

Quality counseling build up mutual trust.

It helps to overcome barriers.

Quality counseling’s output can be observed by everyone.

Quality counseling emphasized on empathy and conflict resolution.

MYTHS OF REACHING OUT TO A SCHOOL COUNSELOR

A School Counselor only work with those students who have some psychological illness or discipline issues, problematic students etc.

A School Counselor promotes holistic development of each and every student of a school.